Stakeholders Back NYSC, Youth Entrepreneurship Trust Fund Bills

Udora Orizu and Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

Stakeholders in the education sector yesterday expressed their support for the bills seeking to establish the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Trust Fund and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Trust Fund.

The stakeholders, who gave their support at the public hearing on the two bills organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Youth Development, said it would help to address unemployment crisis.

The proposed legislations titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to establish the National Youth

Service Corps Trust Fund and a Bill for an Act to make Provision for Establishment of Youth Entrepreneurship Development Trust Fund’, were sponsored by Hon. Samuel Akinfolarin and Hon. Farah Dagogo respectively.

In his presentation, the Director-General NYSC, Maj. Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, emphasised the need for the Trust Fund, saying if established, it will engage and empower corps members at the end of the service by making them self-reliant.

While noting that corps members are willing to put their best once supported, he appealed to Nigerians to support the bill.

Also, a former Governor of Edo State, Prof Osunbor Oserheimen, while pledging his support for the bills, stressed the need for attention to be paid to its sourcing.

“This bill is commendable, and I support its passage by the National Assembly. Nevertheless, I urge this committee to pay particular attention to the sourcing and utilisation of funds, part of which I have addressed. This is to avoid the abuses that have been associated in recent times with Trust Funds by officials who see them as slush funds to feed their avarice. This calls for caution in order that the good intention behind this bill is not defeated,” he said.

In his remarks, the Chairman, House Committee on Youth Development, Hon. Yemi Adaramodu, said the bill is going to engage youths in order to bring development.

He called for training and retraining of NYSC staff as well as skills acquisitions for corps members.

Earlier, while declaring the hearing open, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, urged his colleagues to ensure that their recommendations consider all the prevailing circumstances and reflect the well-thought-out contemplation of objective realities and alternatives.

Represented by the House Leader, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Gbajabiamila, while noting that the objective of both bills are laudable, however, said the lawmakers should circumspect in consideration of proposals that impose a permanent obligation on limited public funds, given that the country is borrowing heavily to meet the basic obligations of government.